I have been a fan of the Bones Tv series for many years, and just last years was able to work through the series from beginning to end. My introduction to the writing of Kathy Reichs was Faking a Murderer with Lee Child. I enjoyed that story so much I picked up the eBooks of both this collection and Deja Dead. It was a toss of a coin and this collection won. The four stories in this collect span nearly the full length of the Temperance Brennan stories, from one that is before any of the currently published novels. To one that is between books 17 and 18, the last published at this time. But these for stories were written between 2013 and 2016. So even though our first story is prior to the rest of the stories the character is very mature before the story was written. The four stories are:

Bones in Her Pocket
Swamp Bones
Bones on ice
First Bones

First Bones is the only original story in this collection, the other three had previously been published. One of the great things about this collection is the authors note at the end of the chapters. There are extensive and provide some great insight into the process of each of the stories. What first sparked it, changes that took place during work on the piece. And one tying it into news of an earthquake and promoting organizations that helped after this and other events like it. Let's now take a brief look at each of the stories.

Bones in Her Pocket

This is an interesting story. You have environmental activists, a bird sanctuary, an ecoterrorist, a grad student who loves raptors and owls, and a puppy mill. There is a lot of possible suspects as the story progresses. And the culprit was a complete surprise. It was interesting watching Temperance piece together the clues and make some mistakes along the way. But get the bad guy in the end.

Swamp Bones

This story begins with temperance on vacation but that does not pan out. She is visiting a friend, who works at the Daniel Beard Research Center. While there to pick up keys and get directions Temperance recognises some bones from inside a snake as being human and not bird. She ends up being drawn into this mystery in the everglades south of Miami. The story revolves around a hunt to cull Burmese Python's that have become a huge problem and op predator. We learn a fair bit about bird strikes, and animal preservation. We find out about trying to identify at risk species after the invasion of the foreign predator. And we learn about greed and poaching. The story has police, park rangers, poachers, and four greedy sisters. An interesting tale with more twists than the pythons being hunted.

Bones on Ice

This story was the one that provided the least surprise for me. But all the information about getting bodies off Mount Everest, international transportation of a body, and other factors make it a really interesting read. The main focus of the story is the identification of cause of death for a rich kid whose body had been recovered from Everest after a few years frozen atop the mountain. A very wealthy patron is insistent that her daughters' case be a priority, and this patron has the ear of the mayor and the chief of police. But the story takes a very interesting twist. And Temperance ends up a little battered and bruised while pursuing the clues to figure out the truth.

First Bones

This story is the only one in the collection that was not previously published as a stand alone. It is also the first story coming in as a prequel to the first Temperance Brennan story. This story is Temperance remembering back to years earlier. To her first case. To her interrupting an interrogation. To her finding clues. To her becoming addicted to the hunt involved in forensic anthropology. It is a great piece.

These stories span the world, from a body brought back from Mount Everest, to pieces of a body found in a bird inside a snake. We learn a lot of science reading these stories. And have four great mysteries being unraveled by Temperance Brennan. It is a fun collection. If you are a fan of the books or planning on reading them in order, I would recommend that you hold off on this one for a bit. But if you are willing to jump around it is a great collection to start with. Four excellent novella's that leave the reader wanting more stories about Temperance Brennan. A great little collection.